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Do you take your own advice seriously? I hope you do so. You must have shorted Intel with all might and must be long in ARMH.
If you are that is great. I must give you credit for that.
You should sell this advice to all the semi analysts on wall street.
Based on that why are you not walking away from this chamber.
Here is what some of the analysts are saying. No one wants it to die though it is crippled to the point that it has no effect on Intel, in my opinion.
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AMD Rising: Bulls Defend the Strategy, Bernstein Says Press the Short
By Tiernan Ray
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are up 9 cents, or 3.6%, at $2.73, bouncing back from losses in the late session last night, after the company missed expectations for its Q3 report and its Q4 outlook.
The company said it did okay in newer areas such as custom-made chips for game consoles. But it clearly struggled in the quarter in the PC microprocessor and graphics chips businesses, especially after a strong PC report from Intel (INTC) two days before. Analysts suggested AMD continues to lose share in graphics at the hands of Nvidia (NVDA).
On the conference call following the report, Su said the custom business had gained new customers in areas such as switching, and that new servers will incorporate its wares. She said the company made progress signing up laptop makers such as Lenovo for AMD’s chips, but the desktop processor business was affected by a buildup of inventory among distributors:
Our Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom segment delivered sequential and year-over-year revenue in operating profit improvement. We had strong embedded processor revenue growth and secured multiple new design wins across our priority markets. For instance, Arista Networks (ANET), a leader in software-driven cloud networking, began ramping production of new switches powered by our embedded G-Series SoC.
The report was effectively the second shoe dropping, after the company announced last week the its CEO Rory Read would hand the baton to Lisa Su, its COO.
As many expected, the announcement presaged a disappointing report. Along with the numbers, AMD said it will cut as much as 7% of the workforce, and sell some real estate, to shave $85 million off of operating expenses next year.
Raymond James‘s Hans Mosesmann reiterates an Outperform rating, and cuts his price target to $3.30 from $5, writing that this was “another reset, which explains the recent change in the CEO slot.”
Things will get “painful,” he thinks, but AMD is still a “valuable asset”:
Phase three of the company’s transformation will likely involve painful cuts in terms of layoffs (7% of headcount) and technology investment. We believe Rory Read’s strategy was correct in terms of shifting the focus to Embedded and Semi-Custom; it’s just that in the traditional CPU and GPU markets, Intel and NVIDIA had other things in mind. The Street will take time to determine if Lisa Su is the real deal or not. We believe this reset effectively clears the decks, with revenue likely finding a bottom in early 2015 as recent investment in new growth areas begins to take hold. In the meantime, we believe viewing AMD as a desirable asset is the right way to go in an environment of consolidation.
JoAnne Feeney with ABR Investment Strategy writes that she was disappointed by the results, but that she continues to believe in the company’s strategy. She recommends investors take advantage of selling, as she thinks the shares can work back toward $4 in 2016:
If the cuts leave intact AMD’s ability to move forward its roadmap for APUs, GPUs and semi-custom/embedded solutions, investors should be relieved. Cuts instituted this quarter would be enough to permit AMD to hold profits at current levels in 2015 and expand profitability in 2016. The risk, of course, is that AMD loses the ability to develop the very chips it needs to secure its future revenue generation. Our understanding is that AMD still had multiple layers of staffing which left room for greater efficiencies—the combination of GPU and CPU divisions eliminates some managerial overlap, for example. New CEO Lisa Su is coming out with a solid plan that leaves AMD in a position to reward those it retains (we are modeling Q/Q increases in OpEx through 2015); we expect that her deep knowledge will allow for selective retention that will position AMD to restore its CPU and GPU roadmaps (already underway) and to devote greater resources to semi-custom SoC design. The company also announced that it has secured two more semi-custom wins (revenues to begin in 2016) and, while these are relatively small programs (a combined $1B in sales over 3 years), they do point to further progress in diversifying revenue sources and to the value of customization in computational and graphics processing.
MKM Partners‘s Ian Ing, reiterating a Neutral rating, and a $3.75 price target, writes that he continues “to wait not he sidelines,” given “While there is a plan in place to stabilize, specifics felt light on the call and 2015 appears to be a dry spell for new sources of revenue (wait until 2016 for revenue from 2 new semi-custom wins).”
The strategy for the custom chips business was vague, he writes:
While we like the high-level commentary on this segment (that it remains a very important segment, represents an evolving area of the company and that they have started to invest a substantial amount of work to transform and strengthen the business), we felt that it was lacking in details as to the new ways they were going to approach it. While they listed some previously announced initiatives and reaffirmed their commitment to them, we think that a bold new road map would be more reassuring to investors, given such a severe guide in the face of its seasonally strongest quarter. However, we feel that the new CEO is a great candidate to tackle this challenge, and look forward to her plan to reinvigorate this challenged segment.
Stacy Rasgon with Bernstein Research reiterates an Underperform rating, and cuts his price target to $2 from $3, writing that results were ”hugely below consensus, and as bad as Q3 was, Q4 was worse.”
With the company reaching a “tipping point” for its finances, he urges pressing the short sale:
While (through what we believe to be a generous model) we do not have the company burning substantial amounts of cash (yet), AMD is now at a tipping point1 – they have pulled all their levers (opex cuts, refinancing, real-estate consolidation, etc), and it will take very little to push the model over the edge (the debt markets have recently taken notice as well, with the company’s CDS spreads spiking over the last week or two). We keep wondering when it will be time to cover this short. Now would not seem to be that time.
Now you admit that both are under the gun. Only time will tell how these 2 companies will do going forward and how much money will be spent.
What else you expect TSMC to say. You saw the other article posted by ibc. Pick what you want to hear.
Everyone agrees in this industry that Intel is way ahead of everyone
at the moment-way ahead. What happens in the future, no one knows for sure.
One can read clearly that if you have spend so much more for 16nm process to be respectable you do have a problem.
If Intel is having difficulty in ramping up 14nm then it is going to extremely difficult for TSMC/Samsung to do it. It is becomes more difficult with each node.
This is the first shoe to fall and more yet to come.
I noticed that. How is this going to effect going forward with 16nm/16FF+ etc. for TSMC/Samsung? I am expecting similar or worse issues for them.
I thought the product will be based on X-86 and not ARM. But it was not made absolute clear.
So what is the real strategy here.
Intel is a semi company and should stick with that. Intel watches are being made by Fossil and other designer houses with help of Intel.
Basic watch is different for medical and health field.
Because he can't. He claims he worked for IBM semi but his posts reflect nothing relevance on any topic.
Yes it looks awful. But finally you are admitting that Intel has do it and part of this. Even the analysts community finally have accepted this
Without these losses, Intel stock will significantly higher
It should have been posted before earnings but still worth reading based on comments from analysts.
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Intel Q3 On Tap: Wells, B. Riley See PC Lift
By Tiernan Ray
Shares of Intel (INTC) are up 87 cents, or 2.8%, at $32.34, in advance of the company’s Q3 earnings report this afternoon, after the closing bell.
The Street, on average, is modeling $14.45 billion in revenue for the three months ended in September, and 65 cents per share in net income.
Intel’s report comes after two days of heavy selling pressure on semi stocks, so it will be heavily watched, along with the report today as well of Linear Technology (LLTC), for any clues to the broader health of the chip industry.
B. Riley & Co.’s Craig Ellis, reiterating a Buy rating, and a $40 price target, expects a “solid” report, with reports from Taiwanese notebook computer makers showing upside, with “Sept sls updates confirm that since even without Pegatron’s +62% mm result (iPhone 6 benefit) the supply chain is up ~12.5%/~10.0% in Sept mm/3Q14 qq versus our +4.0 % PCG modeling.”
Year-over-year shipments for Intel’s PC group “could be below our -1.0% qq but dollars should be in-line/better.” He writes. There’s also “Modest upside to Data Center Group (DCG) ests are possible in both qtrs vs our +6.0%/+3.0% qq.”
“We expect to hear Consumer PC’s remain vulnerable to tablet/smartphone cannibalization but that corp PC’s and moreso servers are doing well.”
David Wong of Wells Fargo, who has an Outperform rating on Intel shares, also cites Taiwanese manufacturers’ data, which showed a rise in PC shipments in September:
PC builds rose in the month of September. Sales for our Taiwanese notebook ODM aggregate increased 15% month over month in September after increasing 3% month over month in August and decreasing 2% month over month in July. Sales for our motherboard aggregate (Asustek, Elitegroup, ASROCK, Microstar and Gigabyte) increased 3% month over month in the month September, if we exclude Pegatron which showed a particular big jump in sales in September due in part, we believe, to business related to the Apple iPhone. There was a clear seasonal lift in PC builds for the September quarter as a whole [...] PC shipments appear to be running at close to flattish year-over-year growth [...] September 2014 quarter sales for our Taiwanese notebook ODM composite increased 9% year over year, representing an improvement from a 5% yr/yr increase in the June quarter.
Wong is looking forward to recently released chips from Intel that could stimulate PC demand:
We think new processor launches could help stimulate computer demand. In early September Intel launched its Grantley server processor platform, with new systems from various vendors available for immediate shipment. In early September Intel launched its 14nm Broadwell-Y (Core-M) processor family for 2-in-1 devices. Last week (October 9) Lenovo released its Yoga 3 Pro 2-in-1, which features an Intel Core M processor, with expected availability at the end of this month (October).
I am not sure it matters for Intel if the box is made of plastic aluminium and any other exotic material. Designer of the product need to worry about that and I am sure here the same thing applies.
OEM must have done some market research before announcing its product plans.
For Intel it is a target to sell its semiconductor devices. And Intel will do well.
I just saw him on CNBC. Going around all business channels.
It is another form factor that could help Intel. There is a lot of innovation going on in PC designs. I am sure one of these will take off.
It is no different than NUC. The article states so. But it fits into your palm. I guess size is extremely small. I personally never compared to NUC spec. of Intel's product.
Amazing piece of computing. Pictures did not show up. but it is amazing to see this computing device.
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Neutron Mini PC Fits in Your Palm, Sports Haswell Hardware Inside
BY MAXIMUM PC | OCTOBER 11, 2014
A toddler sized PC with big boy aspirations
A longtime reader of Maximum PC discovered his passion for building computers from reading our magazine, and now several years later, he’s on Kickstarter trying to raise funds for Neutron. What is Neutron, exactly? Neutron is a NUC-like mini PC that’s designed to offer the same performance as found in desktop towers, but in a form factor that can literally fit in the palm of your hand.
Should Ariane Nazemi and his company Atom Computer raise the desired funds ($30,000), there will be two versions of Neutron — the standard model and a Pro SKU. The regular Neutron will come with a Haswell-based Intel Core i3 processor, Intel HD 4400 Graphics, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 256GB mSATA SSD, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, four USB 3.0 ports, LAN port, mini HDMI and mini Displayport output, Intel HD audio, IR receiver, and Windows 8.1
The Neutron Pro sports a similar configuration, but with an Intel Core i5 processor (also based on Haswell), Intel HD 5000 Graphics, and twice the amount of RAM (16GB DDR3) and storage (480GB mSATA SSD).
We’re a little more intrigued with the Pro version due to the beefier onboard graphics and higher end configuration, though neither one is going to replace a dedicated gaming desktop. However, based on the spec sheets, either system looks capable of being a daily driver, even for some content creation chores like Photoshop.
In addition to what’s on the inside, part of Neutron’s appeal is its external design. Neutron’s chassis is made of transparent acrylic in a variety of neon color options.
To learn more, check out Neutron’s Kickstarter page.
Even altera and xilinx who have nothing to do PC market fell more than 5%.
It is 2 products in one. Please add the cost of individual product and you will come to similar price point.
AMD new CEO does not want to walk in Intel shadow. But by mentioning Intel she is exactly doing so.
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AMD’s new CEO Lisa Su says her company won’t walk in Intel’s shadow (interview)
AMD’s new CEO Lisa Su says her company won’t walk in Intel’s shadow (interview)
Above: Lisa Su, CEO of AMD
Image Credit: AMD
October 9, 2014 6:15 AM
Dean Takahashi
Yesterday, Advanced Micro Devices, one of the biggest chip-design companies in the world, appointed Lisa Su as its president and chief executive officer. She is the latest female top executive at a major Silicon Valley tech company, and she is the first female boss at the 45-year-old company that had $5.3 billion in revenue last year.
Su, 44, succeeds Rory Read, 52, who stepped down in a surprise announcement. She has been at AMD for just a few years, but in that time, the company has executed on its strategy to grow its business in new markets. In 2012, 91 percent of its business was in the traditional PC microprocessor and graphics chips. Now about 40 percent of revenues come from markets such as game consoles, dense servers, and embedded devices.
AMD is still No. 2 in PC processors to Intel, but Su told us in an interview that AMD won’t define itself in somebody else’s shadow. Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
AMD CEO Lisa Su
Above: AMD CEO Lisa Su
VentureBeat: What are your plans as CEO?
Lisa Su: My focus has always been on running the business and making sure that we’re building the right products. As CEO, I’m looking at opportunities to streamline and improve our business operations.
VB: AMD has always had tough competition from Intel. How do you look at that, given that you have a chance to start a new era here?
Su: My view of AMD is that we have a tremendous set of technology assets, people, capability, customer relationships. We’re not going to define ourselves in somebody else’s shadow. We have great technology assets that we can apply across a number of different markets. In the PC business, we obviously compete against Intel, but in other businesses, as we go into embedded and semi-custom, it’s a different playing field.
VB: What are some things that you could say to address anybody who might have a concern about a transition period ahead? People may be worried that AMD’s financial performance could take a hit during a transition.
Su: I’ve been with this company for almost three years. I know it very well. We’ve always said that this is a multistage transformation. The first two steps were focused on resetting and restructuring the company. As we go into this third phase, it’s about technology and technology bets. We’re in this for the long term — certainly I’m in this for the long term — to build out great products and create a great franchise for the company. Those are the key beats.
VB: How do you feel about being the first woman to become CEO of AMD, and one of the few women holding that office in a big Silicon Valley company?
Su: I’m obviously honored and excited to accept that vision. Being CEO of AMD is a tremendous opportunity to influence the industry and influence the future of computing. I’m very excited and enthusiastic about all that’s in front of us.
VB: Diversity in Silicon Valley seems like it’s more on the radar in recent months, doesn’t it?
Su: One of the key things is, when you look at semiconductor companies, it’s all about experience. I’ve spent my entire career in semiconductors. From an opportunity standpoint, there’s a lot of opportunity to move this company forward.
VB: You’re still a rare example in the industry. Hopefully that won’t be the case as much going forward.
Su: Certainly there’s an opportunity to improve, no doubt.
Growth for PC and Mac are down. Mac is down more than PC which is negative start with.
The end result is the same. How ever we got here, you have your opinion and Elmar has his own or everyone else thinks what they think, but the reality is that AMD was not a capable second source supplier.
Intel invented x86. AMD got license because IBM insisted it to second source it. In between AMD added a few things but not enough to be a viable player and that is the truth and hard facts of life.
Everyone tries to live in present but FPG will not give up past.
He has opinion and belief but past has spoken once for all and that is present/today. And AMD is no where. Today's news on AMD is another proof of that. No one in its right mind can defend AMD.
Timing is strange. Bad quarter can be blamed on past CEO. That is why stock tanked in AH.
Stock market did not like this. Stock is close $3.00.
FPG,
Very simple explanation here. Look where is AMD today. Market has spoken loud and clear
There were a few interesting paragraphs from the article.
The following paragraphs suggest the difficulty TSMC and Samsung are having with getting decent yield.
Additionally at best TSMC which is ahead of Samsung will only get single digit revenue by 3rd quarter of 2015.
And if Apple is not interested in FinFET for its chips then who is going to foot the bill for such expansion.
Things are getting clear for everyone else to see that Intel lead much more than some of the folks think on this forum.
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Peng said in a July report: "We believe Apple abandoned the latest FinFET technology and maintained the 20nm design for its A9 processor due to concerns about low yield rates." TSMC is the only foundry that can integrate fan-out for application processors and mobile RAM, he said, so Apple's A9 and upcoming high-end application processors will follow this trend over the next two years.
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Carlos Peng, an analyst with Fubon Securities in Taipei, says FinFET chips will account for a "high single-digit percentage" of TSMC's revenue by the third quarter of 2015. Initially, TSMC's main customers for the new process technology will be Apple and HiSilicon, followed by Qualcomm, MediaTek, Xilinx, and Altera later in 2015. Apple may choose TSMC to make the A9 processor with FinFET technology.
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Checks with industry experts suggest Samsung's foundry has experienced a setback with its 14nm FinFET project, while TSMC's 16nm pilot line is gaining incremental confidence among prospective customers, Hosseini said in the report. TSMC and Samsung are in a tight race to provide FinFET products to their biggest customers, Apple and Qualcomm, each of which aims to offer improved performance and lower power consumption in smartphones with the higher-density chips. However, the development of 3D-structured FinFETs has been fraught with difficulty for the two companies.
These folks don't see the reality-very clearly written in front of their face. How it happened? Who cares? These folks will not accept the reality.
AMD is no where to be seen and Intel is still king in semi/PC/servers and making a stride towards mobile.
You are asking rhetorical questions. What does Intel stock price drop has to do with Intel buyback plan.
Do you have any idea of any other company when buyback happens on a daily basis. Intel stated that it will buy back certain shares in a particular quarter. That is the only public statement.
Is that too difficult to grasp?
That is too obvious. And obvious things are hard to find.
I was going to post about this just now but you beat me to it.
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12:56 PM ET
Intel: Gadget Guy Mike Bell Explains New ‘Peak’ Fitness Watch
By Tiernan Ray
The new “Peak” fitness watch, left, from Intel’s Basis Science unit, compared to the previous model, on the right. Photo courtesy of Gizmodo.
Fitness watch maker Basis Science, owned by Intel (INTC), today unveiled the “Peak” fitness watched, a second model following on the one released last fall, with enhanced sensor content, a more stylish industrial design, and upgraded touch-screen.
Sean Hollister of Gizmodo has a nice breakdown of what to expect in the new device.
Mike Bell, Intel’s head of the head of “new devices” division, came on CNBC a short while ago with hosts Carl Quintanilla and Kayla Tausche to discuss the device.
Said Bell, “The cool thing is there are a number of sensors, including an optical heart rate sensor, that monitor your body 24/7, so it gives you a really great idea of your fitness level.”
“And you don’t have to charge it every night like some other devices on the market,” he added.
Among other things that set the device apart, said Bell, “It’s really simple” referring to the user interface. “We adopted a mobile-first approach. You have an app on your iOS or Android device, and it’s pretty seamless. Once you’ve set it up, you don’t have to worry about it.”
Bell, who worked for years at Apple (AAPL), including the periods of the introduction of the iMac and the iPhone, was asked about Apple’s forthcoming Apple Watch: “I actually look at this as a really different device, it’s not like a smartwatche that runs general purpose tasks.”
The apple watch has legitimated the space for us. They no onger ask me if it actually will happen. This device really is targeted specifically at fitness. A lot of the other band sour there are less expensive, but most of them are not made of high quality materials like this, most don’t have touch screens, most you can’t ware while you’re swimming.
Regarding who the target audience is, Bell said, “It’s targeted to everyone from the elite athlete to person just beginning excerise. We think it will appeal to a large number of people. It comes in white and black with a red band.”
Quintanilla asked Bell if he thinks fitness bands and other wearables will remain in “silos,” as niche categories, or broaden out. Said Bell, “At some point, you will see devices that are more generic. Right now, the devices that are silo’d are easy to understand. The more generic devices, people are taking a wait and see attitude, because people are not sure what they would do with them, and, frankly, they don’t look very good.”
The device, which goes on sale in November for $199, will be sold on Amazon.com and Best Buy, said Bell.
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2014/09/30/intel-gadget-guy-mike-bell-explains-new-peak-fitness-watch/
Finally. What took you long?
He had nothing left to use.
You are no semiconductor expert by your own admission. and then you make a statement like this.
Let your money speak and not your words.
Short Intel by selling all your assets.
Why will you hold? What matters is in your opinion and mind?
FPG,
You should take victory laps on behalf of TSMC as it has leap frogged Intel in process technology. It is a sign that Intel is doomed and TSMC is the new king. TSMC 16nm 3D parts have been taped out and has been verified. Where as Intel Core M is a vapor mare.
Congratulations.
You have given enough reasons that apple should do this. It will for sure save it tons of money.
Question-how come Apple has done this so far? What is stopping it. Does it not want to make that money?
Not so good news for AMD
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http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2014/09/17/amd-short-it-on-pipe-dreams-pc-declines-says-bernstein/
AMD: Short It on ‘Pipe Dreams,’ PC Declines, Says Bernstein
By Tiernan Ray
Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon today advises investors to “press the short” sale thesis on shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which he rates Underperform, witha $3 price target, arguing that the stock seems much too strong of late given what was an “atrocious” performance in Q2, announced back on July 17th. The stock, at a recent $3.84, is down 16% since the 17th, but flat since the big drop in the shares the following day.
“Nevertheless, we remain astonished at the strength (we had fully expected the shares to revisit much
closer to our $3 target price before they approached the neighborhood of $4 again).
“We believe now might be a good time to consider pressing the short,” he urges.
“The PC business appears to be in complete disarray, the console story has now lapped itself, future “opportunities” (e.g. new semicustom design wins, ARM servers, etc) appear more of a pipe dream at the moment than anything else, and (very tactically) Q4 numbers appear far too high to us.”
AMD’s PC revenue isn’t stabilizing, as the company claims, with desktop sharing falling from 16.3% to 15%, and notebook share slipping from 10.9% to 9.6%.
AMD’s shipments into the Sony (SNE) PlayStation 4 and the Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox ONE is a story that probably is peaking, in terms of revenue, this quarter, he thinks.
And the company’s promising new initiatives — chips for so-called micro-servers, new custom designs, etc. — actually offer little promise, he thinks:
Indeed, the company has been adamant that they should close 1-2 new semicustom designs by the end of the year. But we do not believe any of these will amount to much. AMD has indicated a ~$250-$500M lifetime revenue opportunity from these sorts of wins. Given a likely lifetime of at least 5 years, this suggests perhaps ~$13-$25M in incremental revenue per quarter from each new win (for some context, in July we took our Q3 numbers down by $160M). AMD needs 10+ of these types of semicustom wins to make any sort of real difference, unlikely to happen soon in our opinion. And, we believe any announcements are unlikely to be accompanied by any tangible financial targets (the company has repeatedly referred to these as “confidential”).
Intel needs to counter the claims made in this article. Daniel Nenni is using false claim to put Intel down. Even analyst have started using his article to come to the same conclusion.
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http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2014/09/17/intel-is-apples-a8-exposes-shortcomings-says-semi-advisors/
3:44 PM ET
Intel: Apple’s ‘A8' Chip Exposes Shortcomings, Says Semi Advisors
By Tiernan Ray
Is Apple (AAPL) beating Intel (INTC) at the latest chip technology?
In some ways, yes, says Robert Maire of boutique research firm Semiconductor Advisors.
In a note out late yesterday, Maire follows up on some positive observations about Apple’s “A8” chip, introduced last week along with its iPhone 6 models.
In an initial note published on Friday, Maire observed that Apple’s stated specification of 2 billion transistors in the A1is more than the 1.4 billion transistors in Intel’s “Haswell” desktop chip.
He also notes Apple’s claim of a 25% performance improvement over its A7 chip in the iPhone 5S, a claim of 50% GPU performance increase, and a claim of the A8 being “50% more power efficient.”
Observed Maire, “This is more than double the normal gain of 15-20% expected from a shrink to 20nm technology that A8 is based on.”
“This suggests that Apple made some significant design improvements on top of just the hardware shrink.”
Maire, noting that such processors could take over some “light” application tasks in a notebook like the MacBook Air, wondered “When will Apple start building its own laptop and desktop processors?”
While he doesn’t think Intel will lose Apple’s desktop and laptop business “anytime soon,” he opined, “It should also be viewed as a threat to Intels entry into the tablet and smartphone market. Apple has set a very high bar in performance that it seems would be very difficult for Intel to match on a price/performance basis without substantial subsidies (contra revenue…).”
In today’s note, Maire writes that after doing more “digging,” he has come to the view that Intel is not getting as much out of its latest chip process technology, in particular, the so-called TriGate 3-D transistors relative to the progress Apple has made with with countract foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) for the A8:
In doing the math, the general assumption would be that Intel should have many more transistors per square inch using both FinFET and 16/14nm technology versus Apple’s Planar 20nm technology but surprisingly that is not the case. 16/14nm should by itself offer much better transistor density. The advantage of FinFET over planar is building the transistors vertically rather than horizontally so as to squeeze more in per square inch. This would imply that Intel’s Broadwell should have a huge advantage in transistor density based on these two “superior” technologies …but surprisingly that is not the case. Apple could have stacked the deck a little bit with a larger cache size which would account for some of the transistor density increase but its still hard to explain it all away. At the very least its clear that FinFET though advantageous, is not the be all end all nirvana. Is all the grief, aggravation and heartache that Intel went through, with yield issues worth it to get a device that isn’t much better than an Apple A8 at 20nm planar? Could it be that Intel’s basic design and architectural capability is lacking such that the dual advantages of 16/14nm coupled with FinFET barely keep it ahead? Interesting questions to ask of Intel….we wonder what the response would be….
I should note that Maire’s note references third parties such as a piece published Sunday by Daniel Nenni of SemiWiki.
Update: After I wrote into to Maire to qualify the A8/Broadwell comparison, Maire replied that the main Intel part for comparison in this case is the “Core M, Broadwell-Y,” which has upwards of 1.3 billion to 1.4 billion transistors in a dual-core configuration. Maire observes that it’s possible the A8 “has a larger cache” than the Broadwell part, “but that still does not account for the large difference” in transistor density, he says.
I worked in Memory system group in Sunnyvale and he was head of that group. It developed products using memory made by Intel